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«J«\l  J 


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[No.  115] 


'MY  23  1917 


.PROGRESSIVE  LIBERALISM 

IN 

THE  CLOSING  AND  THE  OPENING 

CENTURY. 


BY 

CHARLES  W.  ELIOT. 


PUBLISHED  FOR  FREE  DISTRIBUTION 

AMERICAN  UNITARIAN  ASSOCIATION 
25  Beacon  Street,  Boston 


The  American  Unitarian  Association 
was  Founded  in  1825  with  the 
Following  Expressed  Purpose 

“The  object  of  the  American  Unitarian 
Association  shall  be  to  diffuse  the  know¬ 
ledge  and  promote  the  interests  of  pure 
Christianity;  and  all  Unitarian  Christians 
shall  be  invited  to  unite  and  co-operate 
with  it  for  that  purpose.  ’ 5 

(The  General  Conference  of  Unitarian 
and  Other  Christian  Churches ,  passed 
the  following  vote  at  Saratoga ,  N.  Y., 
in  1894.) 

t 

“These  Churches  accept  the  religion  of 
Jesus  holding,  in  accordance  with  his 
teaching,  that  practical  religion  is  summed 
up  in  love  to  God  and  love  to  man.” 

“The  Conference  recognizes  the  fact 
that  its  constituency  is  Congregational  in 
tradition  and  polity.  Therefore,  it 
declares  that  nothing  in  this  Constitution 
is  to  be  construed  as  an  authoritative  test; 
and  we  cordially  invite  to  our  working 
fellowship  any  who,  while  differing  from 
us  in  belief,  are  in  general  sympathy  with 
our  spirit  and  our  practical  aims.” 


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PROGRESSIVE  LIBERALISM  IN  THE 
CLOSING  AND  THE  OPENING 
CENTURY. 


This  essay  has  no  application  whatever  to  the  great 
Greek  and  Roman  communions,  those  churches  being 
founded  on  an  unqualified  authority  which  does  not  recog¬ 
nize  the  right  of  private  judgment.  It  relates  exclusively 
to  the  Protestant  communions. 

The  first  thing  to  be  observed  about  progressive  liber¬ 
alism  in  the  closing  century  is  that  it  is  characterized 
essentially  by  a  series  of  slow,  gradual,  and  related  devel¬ 
opments,  and  not  by  a  succession  of  sudden,  spasmodic, 
and  unconnected  shocks.  In  the  opening  century  it  is 
sure  to  be  characterized  by  a  slow,  quiet,  giving-effect 
to  a  few  ideas  not  new  in  themselves,  but  new  in  respect 
to  diffused  acceptance.  I  shall  deal  with  only  four  as¬ 
pects  of  the  broad  subject. 

1.  One  deep-striking  change  to  which  liberalism  has 
contributed  is  the  change  in  Protestant  opinions  concern¬ 
ing  the  Bible.  The  Reformation  substituted  for  the  in¬ 
fallibility  of  an  institution  and  its  official  representative 
—  an  institution  vast,  varying,  complex,  pervasive,  and  on 
occasion  vague  —  another  infallibility  ;  namely,  the  in¬ 
fallibility  of  a  small,  unchanging,  compact,  apprehensible 
collection  of  ancient  writings,  the  Bible.  Contending 
vigorously  against  the  infallibility  of  the  Church  and  the 
pope,  it  set  up  the  verbally  inspired,  inerrant  Bible  as 


4 


PROGRESSIVE  LIBERALISM. 


infallible  authority.  Fortunately,  the  Reformation  taught 
that  the  humblest  Christian  might  have  direct  access  to 
this  infallible  Scripture;  and,  therefore,  it  ultimately  set 
up  the  human  reason  as  the  legitimate  interpreter  of  this 
new  infallibility.  Now  the  human  reason  since  the  Re¬ 
formation  has  not  only  added  wonderfully  to  its  stores  of 
knowledge,  but  has  also  developed  greatly  its  penetrating 
and  exploring  power.  Some  new  sciences  have  arisen  ; 
the  old  sciences  of  philology  and  history  have  made  aston¬ 
ishing  progress ;  and  the  general  method  of  inductive 
reasoning  has  been  applied  during  the  nineteenth  century 
more  widely  and  with  much  greater  success  than  ever 
before.  The  languages  of  Scripture  and  the  literatures 
written  in  those  languages  are  far  better  known  now  than 
they  were  before  the  present  century ;  the  other  sacred 
writings  of  the  world  have  become  known  to  the  Christian 
nations ;  the  history  of  Egypt,  Palestine,  Greece,  and 
the  Roman  Empire,  has  been  illuminated  by  modern 
archaeological  research ;  and  the  natural  sciences  have 
demonstrated  countless  facts,  and  have  established  a  few 
general  principles,  which  throw  a  flood  of  light  backward 
on  to  the  beliefs  and  practices  of  former  generations  and 
the  real  history  of  the  human  race  on  this  earth.  Gradu¬ 
ally  there  has  appeared  a  new  critical  spirit  toward  the 
Bible  and  the  supernatural  side  of  religion.  What  is 
called  the  Higher  Criticism  is  nothing  but  the  application 
to  the  Bible  of  methods  of  research  which  have  been  suc¬ 
cessfully  applied  to  other  bodies  of  ancient  historical  and 
literary  compositions. 

Naturally,  the  influence  of  these  new  powers  and  new 
growths  is  to-day  felt  chiefly  by  scholars  and  reading 
people.  Nevertheless,  the  popular  mind  also  is  not  with¬ 
out  preparation  for  the  acceptance  of  new  views  concern¬ 
ing  revelation  and  supernaturalism  in  general.  In  the 
first  place,  all  people  have  gradually  learned  to  look 


MYSTERY  NOT  MIRACLE  — ■  PREFERENCE  FOR  FACTS.  5 


always  for  a» natural  explanation  of  the  marvellous  ;  and, 
secondly,  they  are  thoroughly  habituated  to  incomprehen¬ 
sible  or  mysterious  effects  which  they  firmly  believe  to  be 
due  to  natural  causes,  although  they  do  not  in  the  least 
understand  the  modes  in  which  the  effects  are  produced. 
Thus  the  comet  and  the  eclipse  have  lost  their  terrors 
even  for  the  most  ignorant.  All  men  are  persuaded  that 
these  phenomena  portend  nothing,  being  due  to  natural 
though  uncomprehended  causes.  The  entire  audience  at 
a  magician’s  show  is  firmly  persuaded  that  there  is  no 
magic  in  the  performance,  but  only  skill.  The  familiar 
miracle  of  driving  a  street-car  by  an  invisible  force, 
brought  miles  on  a  wire,  though  entirely  incomprehensi¬ 
ble  to  the  common  mind,  is  universally  believed  to  be 
a  purely  natural  phenomenon.  In  short,  many  effects 
>nce  called  miraculous  or  magical  are  now  accepted  as 
purely  natural ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  many  effects 
known  to  be  natural  are  just  as  mysterious  and  wonder¬ 
ful  as  most  of  the  occurrences  described  in  former  centu¬ 
ries  as  miracles.  This  state  of  the  popular  mind,  which 
has  been  chiefly  developed  during  the  nineteenth  century, 
has  prepared  the  way  for  the  acceptance  of  new  views 
concerning  the  Bible  and  the  supernatural  in  religion. 

Again,  all  through  this  closing  century  the  relative 
importance  of  fact  in  comparison  with  theory  or  specu¬ 
lation  has  been  mounting.  Down  to  the  present  century 
the  prevalence  of  myth,  fable,  and  imaginative  narration, 
has  characterized  the  most  precious  literatures;'  and  even 
history  until  lately  has  had  highly  imaginative  elements. 
Of  late  years  history  has  become  realistic,  and  even  fic¬ 
tion  is  photographic  in  quality.  This  preference  for  facts 
has  grown  stronger  and  stronger  during  the  closing  cen¬ 
tury,  and  is  likely  to  be  still  more  characteristic  of  the 
opening.  Indeed,  theory  and  speculation  are  almost  dis¬ 
credited,  except  in  a  hypothesis  which  temporarily  or 


6 


PROGRESSIVE  LIBERALISM. 


provisionally  explains  or  correlates  a  group  of  facts. 
Even  in  such  cases  the  hypothesis  is  avowedly  accepted 
on  sufferance  and  with  suspicion. 

Still  further,  we  observe  that  by  the  present  generation 
broad  and  hasty  generalizations  from  few  particulars,  and 
immense  superstructures  on  small,  slight  foundations,  are 
in  modern  instances  almost  universally  derided.  They 
do  not  excite  indignation  or  scorn :  they  excite  ridicule 
and  contempt.  Now  the  hugest  superstructure  ever 
reared  on  a  diminutive  foundation,  and  the  most  formid¬ 
able  speculation  ever  based  on  a  minimum  of  doubtful 
fact,  is  the  Augustinian  systematic  theology,  resting  on 
the  literal  truth  of  the  story  in  Genesis  about  the  dis¬ 
obedience  of  Eve  and  Adam  in  the  Garden  of  Eden. 
The  whole  superstructure  of  the  generally  accepted  Prot¬ 
estant  systematic  theology  is  founded  on  the  literal  ac¬ 
ceptance  of  the  Scriptural  account  of  the  fall  of  Adam 
and  Eve.  If  this  account  is  not  a  true  history,  then  the 
whole  logical  system  built  on  it,  including  the  doctrines  of 
original  and  imputed  sin,  of  the  plan  of  salvation,  of  grace, 
mediation,  and  atonement,  of  blood  satisfaction  and  blood 
purchase,  and  of  regeneration,  falls  to  the  ground. 

Hear  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  the  great  Presbyterian  theo¬ 
logian,  writing  about  1870-71,  on  the  nature  of  the  con¬ 
nection  between  the  above  doctrines  and  the  account  in 
Genesis  of  the  Fall  of  Man  :  — 

“  Finally,  these  facts  [the  Garden  of  Eden  facts]  underlie 
the  whole  doctrinal  system  revealed  in  the  Scriptures.  Our 
Lord  and  his  apostles  refer  to  them  not  only  as  true,  but  as 
furnishing  the  ground  of  all  the  subsequent  revelations  and 
dispensations  of  God.  It  was  because  Satan  tempted  man, 
and  led  him  into  disobedience,  that  he  became  the  head  of  the 
kingdom  of  darkness,  whose  power  Christ  came  to  destroy,  and 
from  whose  dominion  he  redeemed  his  people.  It  was  because 
we  died  in  Adam  that  we  must  be  made  alive  in  Christ.  So 
that  the  Church  Universal  has  felt  bound  to  receive  the  record 
of  Adam’s  temptation  and  fall  as  a  true  historical  account.” 


THE  FABRIC  BUILT  ON  THE  EDEN  STORY.  7 

Hear  Dr.Jbtodge  again  when  he  describes  what  the  sys¬ 
tem  is  which  is  buiit  on  this  indispensable  foundation  :  — 

“In  the  Old  Testament  and  in  the  New,  God  is  declared  to 
be  just,  in  the  sense  that  his  nature  demands  the  punishment 
of  sin  ;  that,  therefore,  there  can  be  no  remission  without  such 
punishment,  vicarious  or  personal ;  that  the  plan  of  salvation 
symbolically  and  typically  exhibited  in  the  Mosaic  institution, 
expounded  in  the  prophets,  and  clearly  and  variously  taught 
in  the  New  Testament,  involves  the  substitution  of  the  incar¬ 
nate  Son  of  God  in  the  place  of  sinners,  who  assumed  their 
obligation  to  satisfy  divine  justice,  and  that  he  did,  in  fact, 
make  full  and  perfect  satisfaction  for  sin,  bearing  the  penalty 
of  the  law  in  their  stead.  All  this  is  so  plain  and  undeniable 
that  it  has  always  been  the  faith  of  the  Church,  and  is  admitted 
to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  Scripture  by  the  leading  rationalists 
of  our  day.” 

Assuming  the  infallibility  of  the  Bible,  the  Augus- 
tinian  systematic  theology  starts  from  the  Fall  of  Man,  as 
recorded  in  Genesis,  and  then  by  a  strict,  logical  process, 
proves  its  appalling  doctrines  from  the  usage  of  words, 
the  habitual  forms  of  expression,  and  the  pervading 
modes  of  presentation  in  the  infallible  Scriptures.  All 
its  doctrines  are  proved  by  explicit  statements  or  as¬ 
sumptions  made  in  the  Bible,  or  by  inferences  from 
these  statements  or  assumptions.  The  process  involves 
something  beyond  the  infallibility  of  the  Scriptures 
themselves ;  namely,  the  unerring  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures.  In  the  centuries  since  the  Reformation,  and 
particularly  in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  human  reason, 
enriched  by  new  stores  of  knowledge,  equipped  with 
new  methods  of  incisive  inquiry,  and  fired  with  a  new 
zeal  for  truth,  has  gradually  undermined  the  faith  of  the 
majority  of  Protestant  scholars,  first,  in  the  unerring 
interpretation,  and,  secondly,  in  the  infallibility  of  the 
Bible  itself.  These  scholars  no  longer  believe  in  the 
Fall  of  Man  or  in  the  fabric  of  doctrine  which  a  purely 


8 


PROGRESSIVE  LIBERALISM. 


human  logic  has  built  on  the  Fall.  When  men  begin 
to  protest  or  resolve  that  they  believe  a  given  doctrine, 
it  is  a  sure  sign  that  real  belief  in  that  doctrine  is  fading 
away.  Among  the  masses  of  Protestants  some  belief  in 
the  infallibility  of  the  Bible  still  survives ;  but  the  open¬ 
ing  century  will  doubtless  see  the  gradual  surrender  of 
this  transitional  belief  throughout  the  Protestant  world. 
The  controversial  writings  of  Saint  Augustine  have  domi¬ 
nated  Christian  systematic  theology  for  fifteen  hundred 
years.  Luther,  Saint  Augustine’s  disciple,  prepared  the 
ruin  of  his  master’s  system  when  he  declared  the  Bible 
infallible,  but  opened  it  to  the  individual  inquirer.  The 
nineteenth  century  has  seen  the  foundations  of  the  struc¬ 
ture  undermined.  The  twentieth  will  see  it  given  over 
to  the  bats  and  the  owls,  so  far  as  Protestants  are  con¬ 
cerned.  It  is  not,  however,  the  real  Bible  which  is  thus 
losing  its  hold.  It  is  the  inferential  structure  which  has 
been  built  around  and  over  it. 

If  it  be  said  that,  though  implicit  faith  in  the  Bible  as  an 
infallible  revelation  of  literal  truth  be  lost,  the  real  founda¬ 
tions  of  the  old  dogmatics  will  remain  unshaken,  because 
they  rest  on  human  nature  and  experience,  the  answer  is 
that  civilized  society’s  convictions  about  human  nature 
and  human  conduct  have  undergone  profound  modifica¬ 
tions  during  the  nineteenth  century,  and  are  manifestly 
undergoing  still  further  modification.  Thus,  instead  of 
attributing  sin  in  the  individual  to  the  innate  corruption 
and  perversity  of  his  nature,  modern  society  attributes 
it  in  many  instances  to  physical  defects,  to  bad  environ¬ 
ment,  to  unwise  or  wrongful  industrial  conditions,  to 
unjust  social  usages,  or  to  the  mere  weakness  of  will 
which  cannot  resist  present  indulgences,  even  when  the 
cost  in  future  suffering  stares  the  victim  in  the  face. 
With  this  fundamental  reconsideration  of  the  whole  doc  ¬ 
trine  of  sin  goes  grave  discussion  of  the  till-now-accepted 


THE  M0DES1  CENTURY  —  AUTHORITY  DECLINING.  9 


ideas  of  justice,  punishment,  and  reformation.  The  theo¬ 
logians  used  to  be  sure  that  they  perfectly  understood 
God’s  justice.  The  jurists  and  legislators  of  to-day  are 
not  at  all  sure  that  they  understand  even  what  human 
justice  ought  to  be.  Oii  the  whole,  the  nineteenth  cen¬ 
tury  is  the  least  presumptuous  of  the  centuries.  The 
twentieth  will  be  more  modest  still.  Calvin  and  Jona¬ 
than  Edwards  imagined  that  they  perfectly  understood 
the  object  of  the  eternal,  hopeless  agonies  of  the  damned. 
In  contrast,  listen  to  what  a  poet-physician  says  about 
the  mystery  of  occasional  pain  in  this  world :  — 

“  One  stern  democracy  of  anguish  waits 
By  poor  men’s  cots  —  within  the  rich  man’s  gates. 

What  purpose  hath  it  ?  Nay,  thy  quest  is  vain  : 

Earth  hath  no  answer :  if  the  baffled  brain 
Cries,  ’t  is  to  warn,  to  punish —  Ah,  refrain  ! 

When  writhes  the  child,  beneath  the  surgeon’s  hand, 

What  soul  shall  hope  that  pain  to  understand  ? 

Lo !  Science  falters  o’er  the  hopeless  task, 

And  Love  and  Faith  in  vain  an  answer  ask, 

When  thrilling  nerves  demand  what  good  is  wrought 
When  torture  clogs  the  very  source  of  thought.” 

2.  It  is  not  the  authority  of  the  Bible  only  which  has 
declined  during  the  closing  century  :  all  authority  has  lost 
force,  —  authority  political,  ecclesiastical,  educational,  and 
domestic.  The  decline  of  political  or  governmental  author¬ 
ity  since  the  Reformation  is  very  striking.  The  present 
generation  received  with  derision  the  sentiment  attributed 
some  years  ago  (incorrectly,  in  all  probability)  to  the 
present  Emperor  of  Germany,  — salus  populi  regis  volun¬ 
tas  ;  yet  at  the  period  of  the  Reformation  nobody  would 
have  questioned  that  sentiment.  Ecclesiastical  authority 
has  declined  in  a  still  more  marked  degree  ;  and  whereas 
the  Church  used  to  rule  not  only  the  consciences  and 
opinions,  but  the  daily  habits  of  all  Christians,  there  is 
now  even  among  devout  Catholics  the  sharpest  demarca¬ 
tion  between  the  limited  province  in  which  the  Church  is 


10 


PROGRESSIVE  LIBERALISM. 


absolute  and  the  large  secular  rest  of  the  world.  In 
education  the  whole  conception  of  the  function  of  the 
teacher  has  changed  within  fifty  years.  He  no  longer 
drives  his  pupils  to  their  task,  but  leads  and  inspires 
them  ;  he  no  longer  compels  them  to  copy  or  commit  to 
memory,  but  incites  them  to  observe  and  think.  Instead 
of  imposing  on  them  his  opinions,  tastes,  and  will,  he  in¬ 
duces  them  to  form  their  own  opinions,  studies  their 
tastes,  and  tries  to  invigorate  their  wills  and  teach  them 
self-control.  But  in  no  field  is  the  diminution  of  arbitrary 
authority  more  striking  than  in  the  family  and  the  home ; 
and  in  no  field  has  the  law  more  clearly  recognized  the 
new  liberty  than  in  the  domestic  relations. 

What  authority  is  taking  in  some  measure  the  place  of 
these  declining  authorities?  I  say  in  some  measure,  be¬ 
cause  the  world  has  had  too  much  of  authority  and  not 
enough  of  love  and  freedom.  There  is  an  authority  which 
during  all  the  closing  century  has  been  increasing  in  in¬ 
fluence  :  it  is  the  developing  social  sense,  or  sense  of  kin. 
On  the  negative  side,  the  restrictions  which  this  sense  of 
social  solidarity  and  mutual  accountability  impose  are  in 
some  ways  extraordinarily  comprehensive  and  absolute. 
The  conviction  that  one  must  not  do  anything  which  can 
be  offensive  or  injurious  to  one’s  associates  is  highly  re¬ 
strictive,  —  especially  when  this  conviction  becomes  com¬ 
mon  and  gets  incorporated  in  statute  law.  Thus  it  may 
be  doubted  if  any  autocrat  ever  imposed  on  a  population 
such  a  personal  restriction  as  the  prohibition  of  spitting 
on  sidewalks  and  in  public  vehicles ;  yet  this  prohibition 
is  a  public  regulation  in  Massachusetts  and  many  other 
parts  of  the  Union,  although  it  springs  solely  from  the 
social  sense  that  the  individual  must  not  do  what  might 
propagate  disease  from  himself  to  others.  In  many  parts 
of  modern  society  the  social  sense  plays  the  part  of  a  very 
arbitrary  ruler,  as  appeal’s  clearly  in  the  surrender  to 


THE  SOCIAL  SENSE  —  SOCIOLOGY. 


11 


trades-unions  of  the  most  important  elements  of  their  per¬ 
sonal  liberty  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  persons.  On 
the  positive  side,  this  social  solidarity  is  quite  as  effectual 
to  procure  affirmative  action  as  it  is  to  secure  prohibitions. 
The  British  navy  used  to  be  recruited  by  the  press  gang ; 
that  is,  promising  young  sailors  were  seized  by  force  in 
the  coast  towns,  and  dragged  on  board  the  ships.  Now 
Kipling  and  his  kind  write  ballads  ;  and  the  newspapers, 
pulpits,  and  popular  meetings  arouse  a  gregarious  enthu¬ 
siasm  which  sends  thousands  of  young  men  to  labor, 
suffer,  or  die  in  South  Africa.  It  is  the  sense  of  common 
cause  which  supplies  the  impelling  motive.  Would  it  not 
be  hard  to  state  this  doctrine  better  than  it  is  stated  in 
the  brief  phrase,  “  No  man  liveth  to  himself,  and  no  man 
dieth  to  himself  ”  ? 

Another  manifestation  of  the  power  of  the  new  social 
solidarity  is  the  tendency  in  democratic  governments,  and 
in  some  measure  in  all  governments,  to  relieve  the  neces¬ 
sities  and  increase  the  satisfactions  of  the  poorest  classes 
on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  to  appropriate  in  part, 
and  to  divide  anew  as  soon  as  possible,  large  accumula¬ 
tions  of  property  in  single  hands.  The  recent  legislation 
of  Switzerland,  France,  England,  and  the  United  States, 
illustrates  the  strength  of  this  new  authority,  —  particu¬ 
larly  the  laws  of  these  countries  concerning  progressive 
income  taxes,  succession  taxes,  and  hours  of  labor,  and 
for  the  protection  of  workmen  against  accident,  and  of 
women  and  children  against  overwork.  Much  of  the  leg¬ 
islation  stigmatized  as  parental  is  really  due  to  this  strong 
sentiment  of  social  solidarity.  It  has  all  sprung  up  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  it  will  doubtless  grow  rapidly  in 
the  twentieth. 

3.  The  nineteenth  century  has  seen  the  rise  of  a  new 
body  of  learning  called  sociology.  It  is  a  body  of  doc- 


12 


PROGRESSIVE  LIBERALISM. 


trine  clearly  founded  on  the  ethics  of  the  New  Testament: 
«/ 

but  it  is  at  present  in  a  confused,  amorphous  state.  One 
of  its  characteristics,  however,  is  hopeful.  It  aims  at  the 
prevention  rather  than  the  cure  of  sin  and  evil,  just  as 
preventive  medicine  aims  at  the  prevention  of  disease 
both  in  the  single  individual  and  in  society  at  large.  The 
Old  Testament  relies  chiefly  on  prohibition  and  penalty. 
It  says,  “  Thou  shalt  not.”  For  breaking  this  command, 
so  much  penalty  is  imposed  :  “  In  sorrow  shalt  thou 
bring  forth  children  all  the  days  of  thy  life.”  “  Thy  seed 
shall  be  cut  off  forever.”  “Visiting  the  iniquity  of  the 
fathers  on  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation 
of  them  that  hate  me.”  Now,  faith  in  penalty  as  a  pre¬ 
ventive  of  wrong-doing  and  evil  has  rapidly  declined  dur¬ 
ing  the  nineteenth  century ;  and  this  is  equally  true  of 
penalty  in  this  world  and  of  penalty  in  the  next.  Bar¬ 
barous  punishments  have  been  everywhere  abolished  in 
the  civilized  world,  or  are  used  only  in  moments  of  panic 
or  delirium ;  and  barbarous  conceptions  of  punishment 
after  death  have  been  everywhere  mitigated  or  aban¬ 
doned.  The  new  sociology,  based  on  the  Gospel  doctrine 
of  love  to  God  and  love  to  man,  seeks  the  improvement 
of  environment,  the  rectification  of  vice-breeding  evils 
and  wrongs,  and  the  actual  realization  of  the  ideal,  — 
“  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.” 

Sociology  rejects  also  a  motive  which  systematic  theol¬ 
ogy  has  made  much  of  for  centuries,  —  the  motive  of 
personal  salvation,  which  is  essentially  a  selfish  motive, 
whether  it  relates  to  this  world  or  to  the  next.  Certainly, 
it  is  no  better  a  motive  for  eternity  than  it  is  for  these 
short  earthly  lives  of  ours.  The  motive  power  of  per¬ 
sonal  reformation  and  good  conduct,  and  the  source  of 
happiness  must  always  be  found  in  love  of  others  and 
desire  to  serve  them,  self-forgetfulness  and  disinterested¬ 
ness  being  indispensable  conditions  of  personal  worth 


REVERENCE  AND  LOVE  FOR  JESUS. 


13 


and  of  well-grounded  joy.  Sociology  perceives  that  the 
multitude  can  no  longer  be  reconciled  to  a  state  of  misery 
in  this  world  by  the  deceptive  promise  of  comforts  and 
rewards  in  the  next.  It  sympathizes  with  them  in  loudly 
demanding  joys  in  this  world.  The  promise  of  Abra¬ 
ham’s  bosom  after  death  should  not  reconcile  Lazarus  to 
lying  at  the  gate,  full  of  sores,  now.  The  multitudes 
themselves  perceive  that  wretchedness  in  this  world  may 
easily  unfit  them  for  worthy  enjoyments  either  now  or 
hereafter,  since  it  may  dwarf  the  mental  and  moral  facul¬ 
ties  through  which  high  enjoyments  come.  Sociology  is 
of  the  mind  of  the  angel  who  bore  a  torch  in  one  hand 
and  a  vase  of  water  in  the  other,  with  the  one  to  burn 
heaven,  and  with  the  other  to  quench  hell,  that  men 
might  be  influenced  neither  by  the  hope  of  the  one  nor 
the  fear  of  the  other. 

4.  What  effect  will  the  great  changes  in  public  opinion 
about  revelation  and  religion  which  the  nineteenth  cen¬ 
tury  has  wrought,  and  the  twentieth  will  spread,  have  on 
the  estimate  which  the  next  two  or  three  generations  will 
place  on  the  character  and  life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ? 
We  have  already  learnt  that  the  fundamental  ethical  con¬ 
ceptions  recorded  in  the  Gospels  had  all  been  anticipated. 
The  fatherhood  of  God,  the  brotherhood  of  man,  the  con¬ 
ception  of  God  as  a  spirit,  and  the  Golden  Rule,  —  to 
name  some  of  the  most  fundamental  of  these  conceptions, 
—  all  occur  in  writings  earlier  than  the  Gospels.  But 
what  of  that?  The  true  reformer  is  not  he  who  first 
conceives  a  fruitful  idea ;  but  he  who  gets  that  idea 
planted  in  many  minds,  and  fertilizes  it  there  through 
the  power  of  his  personality.  Such  a  reformer  was 
Jesus.  He  spread  abroad,  and  commended  to  the  minds 
of  many  men,  the  loftiest  ethical  conceptions  the  race  had 
won.  He  vitalized  them  by  his  winning  and  command- 


14 


PROGRESSIVE  LIBERALISM. 


ing  presence,  and  sent  them  flying  abroad  on  the  wings 
of  his  own  beautiful  and  heroic  spirit.  In  a  barbarous 
age  he  was  inevitably  given  the  reward  of  deification,  just 
as  the  Pharaohs  and  Alexanders  and  Caesars  were ;  and 
his  memory  was  surrounded  b}^  clouds  of  marvel  and 
miracle  during  the  four  or  five  generations  which  passed 
before  the  Gospels  took  any  settled  form.  The  nine¬ 
teenth  century  has  done  much  to  disengage  him  in  the 
Protestant  mind  from  these  encumbrances;  and  the  twen¬ 
tieth  will  do  more  to  set  him  forth  simply  and  grandly  as 
the  loveliest  and  best  of  human  seers,  teachers,  and 
heroes.  Let  no  man  fear  that  reverence  and  love  for 
Jesus  will  diminish  as  time  goes  on.  The  pathos  and 
the  heroism  of  his  life  and  death  will  be  vastly  height¬ 
ened  when  he  is  relieved  of  all  supernatural  attributes 
and  powers.  The  human  hero  must  not  have  foreknowl¬ 
edge  of  the  glorious  issue  of  his  sacrifices  and  pains.  He 
must  not  be  sure  that  his  cause  will  triumph ;  he  must 
suffer  and  die  without  knowing  what  his  sacrifice  will 
bring  forth.  The  human  exemplar  should  have  only 
human  gifts  and  faculties.  If  these  principles  are  true, 
the  more  completely  progressive  liberalism  detects  and 
rejects  the  misunderstandings  and  superstitions  with 
which  the  oral  tradition  and  written  record  concerning 
the  life  of  Jesus  were  inevitably  corrupted,  the  more 
will  love  and  reverence  grow  for  the  splendors  of  truth 
and  moral  beauty  which,  as  a  matter  of  indubitable  fact, 
have  shone  from  the  character  and  teachings  of  this 
Jewish  youth.  Already  we  see  many  signs  of  the  ap¬ 
proaching  fulfilment  of  Whittier’s  prophecy,  — 

“  Our  Friend,  our  Brother,  and  our  Lord, 

What  may  thy  service  be  ? 

Nor  name,  nor  form,  nor  ritual  word, 

But  simply  following  thee.” 


PIONEERS  OF  RELIGIOUS  LIB¬ 
ERTY  IN  AMERICA 


Being  the  Great  and  Thursday  Lectures  Deliv¬ 
ered  in  Boston  in  Nineteen  Hundred  and  Three 

Size,  5  1*2  x  8  inches;  pages,  3g6;  price,  $1.50  net ;  postage,  13 
cents. 

THE  purpose  and  scope  of  this  volume  cannot  be  better 
shown  than  by  giving  the  subjects  and  authors  of  the 
thirteen  chapters  which  make  up  its  contents.  These 
are:  I.  “William  Brewster  and  the  Independents,”  by  Edwin  D. 
Mead;  II.  “Roger  Williams  and  the  Doctrine  of  Soul  Liberty,” 
by  W.  H.  P.  Faunce;  III.  “Thomas  Hooker  and  the  Principle 
of  Congregational  Independency,”  by  Williston  Walker,  IV 
“  William  Penn  and  the  Gospel  of  th  Inner  Light,”  by  Benjamin 
B.  Trueblood;  V.  “Thomas  Jefferson  and  the  Influence  of 
Democracy  on  Religion,”  by  Thomas  R.  Slicer;  VI.  “William 
Ellery  Channing  and  the  Growth  of  Spiritual  Christianity,”  by 
William  W.  Fenn;  VII.  “Horace  Bushnell  and  Progressive 
Orthodoxy,”  by  Washington  Gladden ;  VIII.  “Hosea  Ballou  and 
the  Larger  Hope,”  by  John  Coleman  Adams;  IX.  “Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson  and  the  Teaching  of  the  Divine  Immanence,”  by 
Francis  G.  Peabody  ;  X.  “Theodore  Parker  and  the  Naturaliza¬ 
tion  of  Religion,”  by  James  Eells;  XI.  “Phillips  Brooks  and  the 
Unity  of  the  Spirit,”  by  Samuel  A.  Eliot. 

The  chapters  making  up  this  book  were  delivered  as  lectures  in 
Boston  in  the  spring  of  1903,  and  attracted  much  attention. 
The  purpose  of  the  lectures  and  of  the  book  is  to  set  forth  some 
of  the  great  principles  through  which  religious  freedom  in  this 
country  was  achieved,  and  the  connection  with  these  principles 
of  the  great  men  who  advocated  them  and  gave  them  their 
power  and  enduring  vitality.  These  thirteen  champions  of  relig¬ 
ious  freedom  were  truly  pioneers  in  the  work  in  which  they 
became  so  conspicuous,  and  no  one  can  so  fully  realize  the  sig¬ 
nificance  of  our  present  freedom  of  thought  in  religious  matters 
as  by  reading  these  accounts  of  the  inception  and  growth  of 
the  religious  principles  which  constitute  so  valued  a  part  of  our 
religious  inheritance. 


AMERICAN  UNITARIAN  ASSOCIATION 
25  Beacon  Street,  Boston 


THE  American  Unitarian  Association  is  the  working 
missionary  organization  of  the  Unitarian  churches 
cf  America.  It  seeks  to  promote  sympathy  and  united 
action  among  Liberal  Christians,  and  to  spread  the  prin¬ 
ciples  which  are  believed  by  Unitarians  to  be  essential  to 
civil  and  religious  liberty  and  progress  and  to  the  attain¬ 
ments  of  the  spiritual  life.  To  this  end  it  supports 
missionaries,  establishes  and  maintains  churches,  holds 
conventions,  aids  in  building  meeting-houses,  publishes, 
sells,  and  gives  away  books,  sermons,  tracts,  hymn-books, 
and  devotional  works. 

A  list  of  free  tracts  will  be  sent  on  application.  A 
full  descriptive  catalogue  of  the  publications  of  the 
Association,  including  doctrinal,  devotional  and  practical 
works,  will  be  sent  to  all  who  apply. 

The  Association  is  supported  by  the  voluntary  contri¬ 
butions  of  churches  and  individuals.  Individuals 
desiring  to  co-operate  with  this  Association  may  receive 
a  certificate  of  Associate  Membership  by  signing  an 
application  card  (sent  on  request  to  the  Associate 
Department)  and  the  payment  of  one  dollar.  Address 
communications  and  contributions  to  the  Secretary  at 
his  office,  25  Beacon  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 


FORM  OF  BEQUEST. 

I  give  and  bequeath  io  the  American  Unitarian  Associa¬ 
tion,  a  corporation  established  by  law  in  the  State  of  Massa¬ 
chusetts,  the  sum  of  \ . dollars ,  the  principal  to 

be  securely  invested  and  the  income  to  be  used  to  promote  the 
work  of  the  Association. 


